Equinor makes changes following fires probes

Norwegian energy company Equinor has submitted the findings of its internal investigations into fires at Hammerfest LNG and Tjeldbergodden methanol plant – Europe's largest – to the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), it said May 12.

Nobody was injured in either but only luck prevented fatalities at the latter, it found, and it has introduced changes to its staffing and operations.

“Both fires at the onshore facilities in 2020 were very serious. These incidents have made a deep impression on everyone who was involved or affected. The emergency response effort helped ensure that no one was injured. I want to commend the efforts and commitment exhibited by our employees, suppliers and the local communities to return the facilities to safe operation,” said Equinor's head of marketing, midstream and processing, Irene Rummelhoff.

The incidents in 2020 triggered a comprehensive improvement effort within safety at the onshore facilities, Equinor said.

The findings will be followed up with measures designed to reinforce safety work at the onshore facilities and in Equinor in general, Rummelhoff said. The company has set up a project to tighten the organisational management and control, following the Petroleum Safety Authority's damning report into the Hammerfest LNG fire of September 28. 

The company is also bolstering recruitment of engineering resources within electrical disciplines and up to 50 skilled workers are bound for the onshore facilities. 

The Tjeldbergodden plant caught fire December 2 when a steam turbine failed to shut down and instead spun faster. This led to a breakdown in a coupling between the steam turbine and a gear, which resulted in heavy metal parts being flung out. One of these made a hole in a pipe carrying lube oil to the turbine generator. The lube oil ignited and caused the fire.

The investigation group found that in only "slightly altered circumstances, the outcome of the Tjeldbergodden incident could have been very serious, such as leakage and explosion of syngas. The potential included multiple fatalities, as several people were near the building where the fire occurred, at that particular time."

The shut-off valve had been classified as non-safety-critical in 2004, as it was a valve for steam and not hydrocarbons. That affected its maintenance programme which was never upgraded. The maintenance programme has been followed up in accordance with the criticality assessments that were made. It was also a construction design error that placed the steam turbine in the same building as the syngas unit.

All shut-off valves on steam turbines are now defined as safety-critical, and will be inspected after the incident at Tjeldbergodden. It resumed operations February 20.

Equinor's investigation into Hammerfest tallied with the PSA's: the incident was not caused by a single technical or human error, but was the result of several direct and underlying factors. But there had not been a risk to human safety: the fire was restricted to the filter housing on a gas turbine generator and "the investigation group concludes that there was no major accident potential as regards personal injuries. Both the PSA report and our own investigation confirm that the fire was unlikely to spread to other parts of the facility."